Self Improvement Daily Podcast

Today I want to reflect on a lesson I learned a few weekends back from an event I participated in. The event was called the Ragnar Relay, and every team member is expected to run 3 different routes, 14 miles total, one at a time and in sequence. This means that the team always has someone running, at all hours of the day and night, to accomplish the task.

Not only is it a very difficult physical test, but it was a great demonstration of teamwork and camaraderie. My buddy Bobby organized the event and made sure everyone was comfortable with the flow and expectations for it. My girlfriend, Irene, kept track of everyone’s projected running times and woke up multiple times in the middle of the night to make sure no one missed their “shift”. And we all shared notes about the routes we had already ran to prepare others for their upcoming run with a little more fatigue.

The accomplishment of finishing was spectacular. Knowing that we all were working together, toward the same goal, and doing what was required of us at any time of day was a special experience. I would not have been able to go as fast, or even complete the different running routes at all had it not been for the accountability, motivation, and well wishes of my teammates.

I say this all the time but I’ll say it again. We are better when we’re working together.  Whatever team you’re on, whether it’s at work, playing sports, or in a relationship, ask yourself how could you be a better teammate?

Podcasts hold a wealth of information that can be accessed at anytime while traveling in a car or on a plane, exercising, eating, cleaning. The beauty of this form of content is that it makes knowledge available to you while you’re doing something else. Based on human nature and our preference to do what is convenient, and I have no doubt that podcasts will continue to get more and more popular. This means we’re still at the beginning of what is going to be available to learn through podcasts.

And something that is underrated about the podcasting world is its power as a search engine. In the search bar, you can type in any topic that you want to learn about, and an authority on the topic has prepared a long and detailed response on that topic.  I don’t think we give that enough credit!

With all of this in mind, it comes down to something simpler. Listening to podcasts means you are interested in learning. Instead of playing some music, or having background noise from a TV show or YouTube video, you can opt in to take a moment to learn something new. Remember, as stated in two of my favorite books The Compound Effect and Atomic Habits, it’s the small accumulation of small positive choices that create indescribable and lasting positive change. Use podcasts as a resource to seek knowledge on a daily basis

Despite setbacks, struggle, challenges, and defeat, we have made progress. It might not always feel like it, and sometimes it doesn’t look like it, but we are truly farther along in our journey right now than ever before. It is important we give credit to the factors that helped us make that progress first. We should be grateful for their contribution toward our lives, but second, because they’re some of the same things that will be required to get to the next step.

As human beings, it is built into our DNA to need others for our survival and proliferation. Matter of fact, I recently learned that homo sapiens were close to going extinct until they began working together. That need and requirement is no different today, but it takes a different form. 

It’s everything beyond survival. We need others to do more at work, raise kids, find joy, run errands, and provide motivation. There are many people behind every success you have and it’s through them you could breakthrough the next frontier.

There is one small point of complexity. There are those people who helped you along your way, because they didn’t support you. That’s a reminder that you are capable and you are enough as an individual. Although it’s so much better when we can work together, sometimes other people’s inaction helps you get where you need to go as well.